Donald Ames has embarked on a life-changing, sensory-altering adventure. Come with him from the comfort of your own home countries and experience Japan through the eyes of your everyday Joe Canada!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

My Trip To Enoshima OR My Weekend: Part Two

Thursday rolled around with the promise of nice weather and a fantastic trip ahead of me! The small island town of Enoshima has been heralded by my friend Mia as a great little location that not too many people know of. Heeding her advice, I decided to make it my next travel destination. I was definately not disappointed!

I started the trip off by finding a really great temple. As usual, I take a ton of pictures of the temple itself, but then I found the path. The path led me up to the top of a hill with this massive domed structure. I take a picture of the dome, turn and come face-to-face with Mt. Fuji. Now, I've been in Landmark Tower, on the top of high hills and in clearings, yet I have never seen Mt. Fuji. Today was the breaking of that tradition. This massive amount of rock and stone loomed in the distance like a great sumo wrestler poised to attack its foe with unsurmountable power and brute strength. I am breathless and elated! Finally! The thing that I've been waiting two months to see! Now I am just itching for next year to roll around so I can tackle the great beast myself. With that, I walk around the dome and come upon the main reason I am here: the ocean! Having lived in the geographical middle of Canada I have never seen the ocean for my own eyes. The trip over was the first time I saw the ocean but now I was going to get upclose and personal. I practically ran down the path to get to my destination. Look out ocean, here I come!

I hit the beach and, once again, am awestruck. The biggest body of water at my fingertips. Waves crashing around the wharfs and piers, surfers and sailboats in seemless harmony with the perfect blue horizon, the darkly-coloured sands of the beach lay out in front of me, the wind picking up the hawks and making them bend to its will. Simply breathtaking. I see this large island in the distance connected to the mainland by a long bridge. I decide to take a look and see if there is anything of interest there. Pfft, "anything of interest." I'm in freakin' Japan! The garbage cans are points of interest! Anyways, I wander up the island and see a massive torii gate surrounded by crowds of people. I head to the populated path and find myself at a dead end. But this is one dead end you want to find. I've made it down to sea level but instead of beach there are rocks. Tons of rocks that the waves crash, spraying mist and foam everywhere! Not taking the advice of the chain across the stairs leading down to the rocks, I hop the forbidding signs and proceed to sit on the rocks watching the ocean crash around me. It's moments like these I am glad I came to Japan in the first place. Several pictures later, I head back up to the path, take a quick trip into the hillside and head back to the beginning of my journey.

I feel the pangs of hunger kick in and decide to push my luck and get a suitable dinner rather than a Yoshinoya meal. Yoshinoya is like the Japanese McDonald's except they serve large portions of delicious food, as opposed to greased-up death packages that are unbelievably tasty! I find a place called CoCo's and venture inside. I find a reasonably-priced restuarant and have a meal fit for a king! My God, the food here is unbelievable! Having stuffed my craw I headed back to the train filled with souveniers, pictures and mushrooms. I would have to say that Enoshima is my favourite place to date. Though Kamakura was fantastic it was just too big to take in a single day. Enoshima is small and easy to do in a day. Fantastic! What a weekend!